NBA PLAYOFFS SAN ANTONIO VS. LAKERS / SERIES REPORT | SPUR NOTES

Oh, Baby, Do They Need Parker

The only NBA starters younger than Tony Parker, who turns 21 in two days, are Chicago's Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry and Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire.

Of course, the Spurs don't believe in coddling their kids, so Parker has been under the gun as long as the other three have been in the league.

Overmatched against Stephon Marbury of Phoenix in the first round, Parker rallied, after which Coach Gregg Popovich noted:

"We told him no more babying. I don't care that you're 20. Nobody cares that you're a little bit angry or a little bit embarrassed that you played badly and it's not going your way. Nobody cares. I don't care. The crowd doesn't care. There's not one person on the planet who cares."

Before Game 5 of this series, Popovich said, "We're a much better team when Tony Parker is aggressive and scores. He hasn't done that very much in either series, very honestly, and it's important for us and we've talked to him about it and he understands it and he's trying to do the best he can."

Parker snapped back with 21 points.

"Tony's a big part of what we do," David Robinson said. "Without Tony, it changes the pace of the game. We need him. We need him to be active. We need him to be confident.

"I tell him all the time he's one of the best point guards in the league.... A lot of this is just growing up, growing up in the playoffs. You have to figure it out. I think he's starting to figure it out. He did against Stephon Marbury. This [Game 5] was a big-time comeback from him."